Life-saving garment.



J. HBRLIHY.

LIFE SAYING GARMBNT. l APPLIOATIQN FILED 001.17, 1912.

1,087,491 .Patented Feb.1fz,1914.

l ments, and especially to buoyancy dresses,

citizen of the United States, residing ,in the which the following is a specification.-

' circulating aboutrthe vital parts of the body;

4invention consists in combining with an inlines, and the inner member in dotted lines:

same part in'whichever view 'sai d part may JAMES HERLIHY, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

LIFE-SAVING- GARMENT.' y

Specication of Letters Patent. -Patellted Fb. 17, 1914.-.

Application med october 17, 1912 serial No.. 72am To all whom t may concern.' f

Be it known that I, JAmns Hmmm, a

city and vcounty of San Francisco, State of California, have invented new Aand useful Improvements in Life-Saving Garments, of

Myinvention relates to life-saving garand vit hasV for its object to rovide a garment of the character specified, made of airtight material, which may be donned with great speed, and readily prepared foroperation, in which the buoyant air is located in the besty position for Safety and carrying power, and which' prevents thewater from',

whereby whatever water may touch the skin, will become warmed by the body. y

With the above-stated objects in view, my

ner member adapted to hug the body and cover the same fromtheshoulders to that part of the legs lying justbelow the'thighs, of'an outer sack-like member attached at the bottom to the inner member along a line drawn about the middle of the stomach, and at the top along the line about the neck and under and over the arms, leaving a space between the outer and inner member adapted to be expanded by the breath of the wearer, andmeans for so expanding the garment. y

It also consists in the' novel parts, combinations, and arrangements set forth in the following description, particularly pointed out in the claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, of which- Figure 1, `is an elevation of my improved garment, showing the outer member 1n full Fig. 2, is a cross sectional view taken along the line aa Fig. 1, the garment being supposed to be in a more or less flattened formt Fig. 3, is a cross sectional, broken View similar to Fig. 2, showing a Vmodified mode of' attaching the .'inner, and outer members along one side, the other side of the garment being the same.; and Fig. 4, is a side view in elevation, showing modified inlating means for use with the modification shown in Fig. 3.

The same symbol of reference marks the ap ear.

referringv to the drawing., 1, is a single quickly step, and which may be quickly strapped over the shoulders by lthe straps 2,

and 3, and' which is vautomatically secured.

" space about the vital parts of the body.

A11 mner member 5', adapted to hugthe body extends' from the shoulders to lines about the. legs just below the thighs.- An outer member 6, much larger than the inner member, is attached along its bottom line to.

said inner'member, along a line l"I, running around the body about the middle of hc stomach and 'acrossf the back.' It is attached at its upper end' along the line 8, of .the neck and arms of'the inner member, leaving a space 9, between the inner and outer. member, for receiving the air toinlate the garment a tube 10, having a valve 11, lof any suitable construction for holding the breath in the space 9, after it has been breathed into said space, allows 'the wearer to breathe into said space, and inflate the garment for buoyancy, so that a person need only stepinto the garment, fasten the shoulder straps as.

by the buckles 12, and breathe into tube 10, to prepare himself for thevwater.

, As so far described, my device has a car' rying capacity of close to athousand pounds,

and tends to lift the head of the wearer high t out of the water.

One of the principal features of my invention consists in providing a readily donned piece garment into which a person may buoyancy garmentV with 4means for preventingthe free circulation of the water between the body and the garment; and said feature consists in the combination with an outer member 6 of an inner member 5, which is pressed b body of tile wearer from the shoulde down to the line 7 So arranged, what littl i water leaks in to the bod is warmed thereby and the wearer kept sa e from cramps and chill-' ing. As aforesaid the legs 13 and :14 are compressed by the elastic bands-1.1. According to the described construction, the air is confined to the upper part of the body, front and back, and is supplied through a single tube 10. A modification of such construction consists in separating the front and back air spaces from eachother, which I do'.

a line of attachment 15, Fig.

by providing 3, between t e two members at the side, one

the air in the space 9 aga' st thelos side only being shown in the drawing; and

using an extra tube 16, Fig. 4, to inflate 'the mail back portion 9 the 'front` portion 9, being inated through tube 10, and tube 1G, being long enough to be brought to the r the 'wearer and Within reach of his month.

The inofliliecl form has the advantage of el! lowing for a break in either the front or beck part, either one alone beine` amply sutilcient to Support the body, anflbtlie head being held so high that it makes little clierence Whether the buoyancy part is at the liront or beek.

The material usecl for my garment is a finely Woven cloth fabric, and is Composed throughout of two parte a and Y) ghuecl together allowing attachment by both eewing and gluing, and giving great strength to the garment. The glued 'portion is represented by the line c, the glued. portion being made of eutlicient thickness to attain the requisite eirtightness, the average loss in thirty-six hours being onl7 about one per cent.

Hering described my invention 'what claim as new enel desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, modifications Within the scope of the claims being expressly reserved, s-

l. A life-saving garment comprising a single piece suit of flexible airtight mateial having an innerinernher extending from the neck to lines about the legs just below the thighs, and adopted. to bug the body; and an outer member attachecl at its bottoni to eeicl inner member along e line drawn around the i meme-ei tween seid. 'inner anni outer in bends about the or sein L means for admitting and reto.,...: in the seid epeee.

f3. life-Saving garment single piece suit of: .iexible having en inner member extent neel: intl shoulders to linee e' just below the thighs, enel. f l the body; en@ en outer in@ its bottom. to Sei-.6 inner menu drawn erountl the i i sind the heele, et its upper from n line drawn erounel the threat holes, et its beek 'upper l drawn :ir-ouml the heel; of e holes, intl ut 'eiflee ele l5, leaving trent epeoe Separate means fior eclniittng breath in seid epilees; enel elestie henne the legs of Seid garment,

ln testimony Whereo'l", l. A e gnecl my nenie this-'10th. 5' lQlQ about hereunto i@ otober,

Witnee @es 2 "meme, 

